Friday, May 20, 2011

The Picture Post

I was hoping to return to America with a new shirt or two, shirts that would announce to others "my adventure-filled life is far sexier than yours." But it hasn't worked out the way I wanted.

The clothes here have... a lot going on. Drawings, stripes, crazy designs. And you will not find any shirts with Korean characters on them. Everything -- I repeat, everything -- is in English.

In general, the shirts come in three varieties.

Group 1: Kind of douchey

Group 2: Borderline nonsense

Group 3: Kind of douchey borderline nonsense

"The earth is awesome. The world is just awesome." Alright I kind of love that one.

Field Trips

Haven't gone on many field trips since the first FT post.

We had parent meetings for two weeks, which meant: no field trips.

We had Song Festival one week (each class learned a dance and performed it in the auditorium - that's a story in itself), which meant: no field trip.

We had monthly birthday parties twice (a birthday party thrown for all the kids who have a birthday in a given month), which meant: no field trips.

It's been raining a lot, which, on one occasion (today), meant: no field trip.

But last Friday was the exception. Once again we hopped on buses and made the short trek to Home Plus, this time to see a play.

The play was in Korean so for the most part I had no idea what was going on. The gist of the story, I think, was: a young girl is tricked by a mischievous man into entering a bag.

She is able to escape the bag with the help of her mother. Once free, she turns the tables on the MM and makes him look foolish. How?

It's worth noting now that Korean's think poop is cute and that, as a result, it turns up sometimes in children's programming, always depicted in the same soft-serve chocolate swirl style. There are even poop costumes you can buy for little kids. A Google search of "korea cute poop" will tell you all you need to know.

Anyway, as you've surely guessed by now, the MM finds nothing but shit when he opens the bag.

Poop.

Also the "girl" was a really cute. Snagged a picture with her afterward (along with Robinson, J and Gemma). If I ever figure out how our school's website works, I'll post it here.

Food

The food in Korea is known for its spiciness. Two questions to ask here:

1. Is the food really that spicy?

Absolutely. I ordered some stew my first week and didn't even come close to finishing it. Gochujang, a hot pepper paste, shows up in seemingly every meal. The spicy reputation is well-earned.

2. Is the food as spicy as Koreans seem to think?

Not really. The food is spicy, no doubt. But you get used to it quickly. That stew that knocked me on my ass at first is now one of my go-tos. And I was a total 'mild wings' wuss before I came. If you're into spicy food already, you'll be fine.

Koreans don't seem to realize this. If you eat a spicy dish in the presence of a Korean, they are visibly impressed. My bosses would make me teach class even if I had a gunshot wound, but they are very sympathetic about Korean food-related stomach aches.

Koreans are also fans of putting unexpected fried eggs on the tops of meals.

Final note: chopsticks rule. Do forks and spoons make more sense? Sure, I guess. But once you get the hang of CSs (takes like two weeks) other utensils take on an uncomfortable GameGenie vibe that makes you feel like a cheater. Chopsticks give you an 85% easy, 15% challenge balance that enhances every meal. I love them.